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Subject: 
Re: Does God have a monopoly on gods?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Mon, 13 Mar 2000 16:22:25 GMT
Reply-To: 
(lpieniazek@novera)Spamcake(.com)
Viewed: 
1717 times
  
Well we're definitely in "how many angels can dance on the head of a
pin?" territory and I post this mostly in fun, not because I have
issues...

Frank Filz wrote:

Larry Pieniazek wrote:

So if you accept UU as a religion (which raises the interesting question
of is something one because its adherents say it is? Because its
detractors say it is?) then I'd say not all religions are actively bad.

I would say that UUism is a religion, in part because it does descend
from Christianity. I guess it all comes down to what do we mean by the
word religion. The word implies a god or other higher power. I think it
comes more or less down to if it walks and talks like a duck, it's a
duck. By this measure, I think UUism would be a religion. If you walk
into a UU building on Sunday morning, you will generally find people
engaging in activities similar to what goes on at Christian churches
(even to the point of communion in at least one UU church).

I think that's STILL begging the question. :-) What's the difference
between religion and philosophy? Is something a religion because it has
rites or practices similar to other religions? What if it doesn't? What
if it has no rites at all, or they're different, unrecognisable even?
What if its adherents deny that it's a religion?

Conversely, is something a religion based on claims by the membership?
The IRS doesn't think so, but what do they know.

On the third hand, is there a requirement to take something on faith?
Frank and I both think so. That to me is the distinction between
religion and philosophy. I could argue (for the sake of fun) that
certain UU (the ones who don't believe in god, yet are members in good
standing nonetheless) members are not engaging in religion because their
world view doesn't require anything to be taken on faith. Can something
be a religion if not everyone that's a member in good standing practices
it? I'd say yes. What if NO ONE believes in it? Is it a religion or a
running joke? (Larritarianism is a running joke I would say, not a
religion, no one including myself seriously believes I am a god, we just
have some fun with it)

--
Larry Pieniazek - lpieniazek@mercator.com - http://my.voyager.net/lar
http://www.mercator.com. Mercator, the e-business transformation company
fund Lugnet(tm): http://www.ebates.com/ ref: lar, 1/2 $$ to lugnet.

Note: this is a family forum!



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Does God have a monopoly on gods?
 
(...) Some people do interpret "Justice" to imply income redistribution. UUs range almost completely across the political spectrum, and if one had to paint with a broad brush, one would pick up the Liberal brush, but I suspect if more people (...) (25 years ago, 13-Mar-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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